Last week a Taliban hit squad in Pakistan targeted and shot Malala Yousafzai, a 14-year-old who was fighting for the right of girls to be educated. I cried at the inhumanity on and off all day when I heard. Maybe she should have just dressed the part and saved her life. I’m not being flip. [...]
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Inviolata Mmbwavi: Kenyan Feminist HIV+ Parliament Candidate
Inviolata Mmbwavi carries a tattered copy of the Kenyan constitution with her. “It is my weapon,” she tells me. “When someone says something that isn’t right under the law, I pull open my copy!” The constitution is fragile and new. Written in 2010, it has yet to be fully implemented in Kenya. Based in part [...]
Is it Your Body or Not? Draw The Line, People
If you are reading this then you are using your body. If you vote, you do that with your body, too. Actually, let’s skip the dualism, your body is you. Somehow, a large percentage of people in this country have forgotten that idea. That their bodies are theirs but that yours is yours. These people remember. Sometimes people [...]
Breaking the Cycle: Standing Up Against Domestic Violence
Around the world different months have different observances and of course October is no exception. Two of Octobers best known observances are for Breast Cancer and Domestic Violence. A vast majority of people will know the symbol associated with Breast Cancer Awareness is universally a pink ribbon but not as many will know that there [...]
Naming the Shame That Can Cripple
When Amy Ferris asked me to contribute an essay to Dancing at the Shame Prom: Sharing the Stories That Kept Us Small, I wasn’t sure that I had any shame. Then, when I thought about it, I realized that I did. I just hadn’t framed it that way. I agreed to participate. After I handed in my essay, I heard back from co-editor Hollye Dexter. “I think you are holding back,” she said. “Can you go a little deeper?” So I did. Along with twenty-six other women, I wrote openly about issues that had impacted my life.
A Hope for the Future: An Open Letter to Lady Gaga
Dear Lady Gaga, Let me start off my prefacing this open letter. I’m not writing this in the hopes of pulling at proverbial heartstrings nor am I hoping to gain unwanted attention. I’m writing this to thank you. Over the past few weeks you have been maliciously attacked because of your appearance. To say this [...]
Women’s Healthcare: How Current Laws Affect You
Missouri’s New Law: An affront to women’s rights and health care reform On Wednesday, September 12, 2012, the Missouri legislature overruled a veto by Governor Jay Nixon on a bill which allows employers to deny access to birth control, enacting the bill into law. According to St. Louis public radio, “The legislation lets individuals, employers [...]
#Motherfkd: Economy Will Suffer If People Cannot Plan Parenthood
Social issues Female issues Women’s issues Single issue voters Can we please stop this pretense that effective birth control and safe and legal abortion did not transform society and help families by enabling women to plan their parenthoods and go to work? What purpose does it serve, except to deny reality and mislead people? So [...]
The Disturbing Symbolism of the GOP Convention
Like tens of millions of other people, I watched the Republican National Convention. During the week we were subjected to a new high in the political dangers of the narrow-casting of our media world and the debasement of public discourse, both of which were most startlingly demonstrated by Paul Ryan’s willingness deceive the American public [...]
Feminism: The Pursuit of Happiness
Ask yourself: what do you want for your life? The most common answer? To strive to live a life that brings the greatest joy; that is, the goal of being happy. The good news for your virtuous endeavor? The pursuit of life happiness is your basic and inalienable right. Thanks to the know-how of the [...]